After 2019 Balakot strikes: Military court recommends IAF officer’s dismissal for shooting down chopper

Fighter jets of India and Pakistan were engaged in a dogfight over Naushera sector on February 27 — a day after the IAF carried out airstrikes on terror camps in Pakistan’s Balakot — when a Mi-17 helicopter was shot down over Budgam soon after it took off from Srinagar.

A Court of Inquiry (CoI) set up to probe the incident confirmed that the chopper was shot by an Israeli ground-based Spyder surface-to-air missile of IAF and found that four officers, including a Group Captain, was responsible for the crash.

This was acknowledged by then Air Chief Marshal in 2019 who had called it “a big mistake” and spoke about action being initiated against two IAF personnel.

In 2020, however, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), stayed any action on the CoI report against two IAF officers — Group Captain Roy Chowdhury and Wing Commander Shyam Naithani — citing non-compliance to various statutory provisions by the CoI.

In May 2021, however, the AFT upheld the CoI, and gave IAF the nod to proceed with disciplinary proceedings. The IAF also began the trial of the two senior officers by the GCM. The officers moved the Delhi High Court and Punjab and Haryana High Court, respectively, seeking relief.

Last month, the Punjab and Haryana HC had quoted a Delhi HC order to state that the GCM’s findings will not be given effect until disposal of the petition (of Group Captain Chowdhury), even as it said the authorities can complete all formalities and pronounce the findings.

The GCM acquitted Wing Commander Naithani, who was the Senior Air Traffic Control Officer then, of four charges. He received a severe reprimand for one charge.

Group Captain Roy Chowdhury was held guilty on five of nine charges, including for not obeying the general order issued by Air Headquarters, which had sought operation of all aircraft north of latitude 3200 N with Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF) on, for permitting the chopper to fly from Srinagar without the IFF on, and assigning it to the missile unit for them to engage it, among other charges related to the mishap.

Based on these charges, the GCM recommended dismissal of the senior officer.

Col Mukul Dev (retd), who is Group Captain Chowdhury’s counsel in Delhi, told The Indian Express that with the ongoing stay ordered by Punjab and Haryana HC, the sentence cannot be confirmed by authority concerned. “As and when the stay is lifted and the IAF Chief confirms the sentence, this will be further challenged in Supreme Court,” he said.

He said the existence of any convening order for the CoI is still under dispute and Group Captain Chowdhury was denied basic documents related to the case such as flight records.